For the last few years, I'd been hearing about how there was this script called "I Am Legend" written by a man named Mark Protosevich. Arnold Schwarzenegger was very interested in starring in it, and Ridley Scott was very interested in directing it. With a team like that, you would think that any studio would be willing to shell out the money to make this movie. Nope, didn't happen. The script called for an astronomical budget, and no studio was willing to pay for it. What a shame, because if "The Cell", which was also written by Protosevich, is any indication of his skill as a writer, then "I Am Legend" would probably have been a great movie.
I've already
heard the comparisons. I've heard that "The Cell" is like "The
Silence of the Lambs," "The
Matrix," "Seven," or any of the countless movies that
feature someone going into the mind of another. Yeah, there are similarities,
but trust me, this movie is pretty different.
"The Cell" stars Jennifer Lopez, a woman who I find very sexy,
but who seemed to lose much of that sex appeal once she started screwing
Puff Daddy. I've always liked her in the movies she's been in, especially
"Out
of Sight." She may seem a bit miscast in this movie, but she's
actually very good. Vince Vaughn is in the movie too, and I'm not quite
sure what to think of him. He was great in "Swingers," and he
was decent enough as "Norman Bates" in the "Psycho"
remake, and that couldn't have been easy. Still, I'm not sure what I think
of him as an actor, and I'm not sure why. The actor who steals the show,
which is something he's prone to doing, is Vincent D'Onofrio. This guy is
a towering screen presence every time he's in a movie. I think he'll always
be remembered best for his role in "Full Metal Jacket," which
he put on 70 pounds for. He was the fat guy who goes nuts in basic training.
Ring any bells? He also played "Orson Welles" in Tim Burton's
"Ed Wood," and he played a struggling writer in Robert Altman's
"The Player." He's a very good, very intense actor, and I like
his work a lot. Besides, he spent part of his life in Miami, so he's a hometown
boy. Actually, to be more specific, it was Hialeah, which is a notorious
part of South Florida, not because of the crime, or even for the amazing
number of Cubans, but because of the driving conditions there. My God, if
you can drive through Hialeah and survive with your mental stability still
intact, you can survive anything.
It was good to see Dylan Baker in the movie. He doesn't have a great role,
because all he does is exposition (here's a film school lesson: when a
character explains something so that the audience understands what's going
on, that's called "exposition"), but he's a really good actor.
He played one of the most disturbing characters in movie history when
he was in "Happiness,"
and thankfully, he's a much more normal human being in this movie.
As I said before, "The Cell" was written by Mark Protosevich,
and this movie will be getting him some serious attention. Ideally, a
studio will now decide to do his "I Am Legend" script with Arnold
Schwarzenegger and Ridley Scott, but that remains to be seen. As for this
movie's director, his name is Tarsem Singh (but sometimes, he just goes
by "Tarsem"). Wow. This is his debut feature film, and what
a debut it is! I know that he directed the video for R.E.M.'s "Losing
My Religion," and another by Deep Forest, and I know he's done a
bunch of commercials, but that's it. As for movies, this is his first.
The camera work, and the visuals he created are just amazing. Great stuff.
I guess my only problems with the film were that there were a few slow
parts. Also, I coulda done without all that stuff about the little boy
Jennifer Lopez was trying to help before she moved on to D'Onofrio's character.
Some of the more extreme religious groups are pissed off because Jennifer
Lopez looks like the Virgin Mary in some scenes, but that's just pathetic.
Its incredible what people protest nowadays.
So anyway,
see "The Cell." It kicks ass.